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MUSC 101 – Introduction to Music Study Guide

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MUSC 101 – Introduction to Music Study Guide MUSC 101 – Introduction to Music Study Guide - Unit 1 Pitch - Relative highness or lowness of a sound, determined by its frequency or the speed of vibrations that produce the sound. Measured in cycles per second, or Hertz . Tone - A sound with a definite or fixed pitch Interval - The distance between any two tones Octave - The distance, or interval , between pitches that share the same letter name. A ‘Duplicate” pitch in a higher register. For instance, C to C (DO to DO), and G to G (SOL to SOL). Range - The distance between the lowest and highest tones that a voice or instrument can produce. Dynamics - Degrees of softness or loudness in music. Loudness is related to amplitude, or the width of an objects vibrations. The Italian terms used to indicate dynamics include piano, soft; and forte , strong. Tone color - The quality, also called timbre of a voice or instrument. Both the structure and materials that a particular instrument is made of and the manner in which it is played (hold your nose while you sing!) will affect the tone color of an instrument. Melody - A series of pitches played in a distinct rhythm that form a unique “Melodic line ”, a complete idea. Melodies have shape and direction. Phrase - A distinct portion of a Melody. A complete, meaningful musical idea or statement. Theme - A melody that serves as a starting point for an extended composition. Themes will often go through many changes as they reappear in different versions throughout such a work. Motive - The smallest recognizable musical fragment. Often motives serve as the basis for a melody, or perhaps an entire musical composition. Cadence - A resting point or arrival point at the end of a phrase, section, or complete work. While some cadences leave us anticipating that the melody will continue (incomplete cadence), some will offer a relatively greater sense of finality or arrival (complete cadence). Instrument families and their members organized by range Voice Strings Woodwinds Brass Percussion (a sample) (Mezzo)Soprano Violin Piccolo/Flute Trumpet Triangle, Chimes Alto Viola Oboe/English Horn French Horn (Many with unfixed Tenor/Baritoe Cello Clarinet Trombone or indefinite pitch) Bass Upright bass Bassoon Tuba Bass Drum/Timpani Other instrument families with greater pitch ranges include : Keyboard - Piano, organ, harpsichord, clavichord, etc. Electronic instruments - Synthesizers, Samplers, etc. Beat - A regular, recurrent pulse that divides music into equal units of time. Meter - The organization of beats into regular, repeating groups of Strong and Weak Beats, notated in music as measures. The first beat of each measure is called the downbeat , as it receives greater emphasis, or accent than the following beats. The most common meters are: Duple Meter - a pattern of two beats (STRONG - Weak) Triple Meter - a pattern of three beats (STRONG - Weak - Weak) Quadruple Meter - a pattern of four beats (STRONGEST- Weak - Strong - Weak) Sextuple Meter – typically divided into 2 groups of 3. (STRONGEST-Weak-Weak-Strong-Weak- Weak) Tempo - The speed of the beat. Accent - An additional emphasis on a note, often achieved by playing it louder. Syncopation - When an accented note appears where we not normally expect it, such as the weak beat of a measure. Notation - A system of recording or writing music so that specific pitches and rhythms can be reproduced. Notes (pitches of a certain duration) and rests (durations of silence) are placed on a five-line Staff . Articulation - That manner in which tones of a melody are played. Legato - Describes a melody played in a smooth, connected style. Staccato - Describes a melody played in a short, separated or detached style. MUSC 101 – Introduction to Music Study Guide - Unit 1 Harmony - The vertical aspect of music. The way chords are constructed and the manner in which independent musical ideas are combined. Chord - A combination of three or more tones sounded at once. Consonance - A stable, restful, often pleasant sounding combination of tones. Dissonance - An unstable combination of tones that demands a forward motion to a stable consonance. The motion of a dissonance to a consonance is called a resolution . Triad - The most basic chord, consisting of three alternate tones of a scale (i.e. the 1st, 3rd, and 5th; do-mi-sol) Arpeggio - A broken chord, the presentation of a chord one note at a time. Key - The organization of a piece of music around a central tone called the Tonic , or Keynote . Keys are described with both their keynote and a quality or modality (Major or minor). Scale - A collection of tones used to compose a song or other work of music arranged in order from low to high or high to low. Half-step - The smallest interval used in western music. The distance between any two adjacent keys on the piano or any two adjacent frets on the guitar. (As in the opening motive to the music from the film Jaws ) Whole-step - Two half steps. The distance between two white keys with black key in the middle. Three Blind Mice begins with two descending whole steps. Major Scales - The seven tone pattern familiar from The Sound of Music , do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti. Examples of songs in Major keys (that is, those using Major scales) include : Jingle Bells , Happy Birthday , The Star Spangled Banner and many more. Minor Scale - A seven tone pattern first distinguished from the Major scale by its third tone which is a half-step lower in pitch than in the major scale. Songs in a Minor keys often sound serious or melancholy, such as: Greensleeves , Eleanor Rigby , Scarborough Fair , and many traditional blues and 'sad' folk songs. Modulation - A shift from one key to another within the same piece. Tonic Key - The home or main key of a work even if it should modulate at some point. The opening and closing passages of a work are virtually always in the home key. Texture - Describes how layers of music, both melody and harmony are used together. Monophony - A musical texture involving a single melodic line, as in Gregorian chant or singing in the shower. Homophony -A musical texture that involves only one melody of real interest, combined with chords or other subsidiary sounds, such as a folk singer accompanied by chords on the guitar. Polyphony - Musical texture in which two or more equally important melodic lines are played or sung simultaneously. Style - The sum of musical characteristics that distinguish a type of music, or music from a certain place or era. Genre - A distinct kind of musical composition or form, such as a symphony, song, opera, string quartet. Form - The organization of musical elements in time. Created by techniques including Repetition: A A , Contrast : A B , and Variation : A A’ A’' Some traditional musical forms include Strophic form (A, A, A - with different text for each stanza), 3-part, or Ternary ( A B A or A B A’ ) and 2-part or Binary forms ( A B or A A B B ) MUSC 101 – Introduction to Music Study Guide - Unit 1 Medieval Period & Genres (475 - 1450 C.E.) The Medieval Period, or Dark Ages, begins with the fall of the Roman Empire, which led to a Feudal social structure in which great masses of peasants worked for a small number of land owners. Much of the education and technology of the Greek and Roman times was lost and most of the population was illiterate. Europe was isolated on all sides and subject to frequent invasions by Vikings, Mongols, Goths, Huns and other belligerent groups, as well as the Bubonic Plague, or “Black Death” that killed over 75 million in the 1300s. Most of the music that survives is Sacred, composed for the Church (Plainchant, Organum) for the monks and priests were among the only musicians to record music in print. The Roman Catholic Church was the primary patron of art and education and the single greatest preserver of Western civilization during the Middle Ages. The music of the Church supported the functions of worship and contemplation, making the music completely subservient to the Liturgical text. The Church also sought to standardize music through the development of music notation, paving the way for the development of polyphony, several independent voices occurring simultaneously. MEDIEVAL GENRES : Plainchant / Gregorian chant - Unaccompanied, monophonic music, without fixed rhythm or meter, such as the Gregorian chants used in the early Roman Catholic Church. Most plainchants were composed using the medieval modes , also known as the “Church modes” (7 - note Diatonic Scales, see pgs. 48 - 49) with relatively small ranges of volume and pitch. Organum - The earliest genre of medieval polyphonic music, the earliest Organum were written for the Church and based on an existing plainchant with the addition of another voice in parallel motion (i.e., as the plainchant rises slowly, the other voice does as well, but at a fixed interval or distance above the first voice) and a clear beat. Later, the original plainchant was slowed down so that several notes appeared above each note of the original chant. In later organum, the beats were metered and the newly composed voices gained a greater degree of freedom, so that there may be several newly composed notes occurring in an independent voice along each note of the original plainchant. MUSC 101 – Introduction to Music Study Guide - Unit 1 Renaissance Period and Genres(1450 - 1600 C.E.) The Renaissance was marked by an intellectual movement known as Humanism, a growing concern and recognition of the importance of human life, experiences, and accomplishment, replacing the medieval focus on religious doctrine and the afterlife. The early Renaissance was also distinguished by a rediscovery of the writings and teaching of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the invention of the printing press in 1450 - both of which radically changed access to education, literacy, and the recording and distribution of music.
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